In 1887, the Gaceta de la Habana/Havana Gazette on its Events section, announced “a special bull fight, at the Havana Plaza; organized by the firefighter’s commerce squad, the bullfight will be headed by the famous adroit Don Luis Mazzantini; it’ll begin at 3 o’clock, four magnificent bulls to combat.”... more >>

The cork palm is endemic of Cuba. It is considered a living fossil which dates back to prehistoric times. It can only be found in the westernmost province of Pinar del Rio, and there are about a thousand specimens left.... more >>

In 1882, in the eastern province of Holguin, Manuel Avilés Lozano founded a jazz band orchestra which he named La Bulla/The Fuss. A few months later, everyone called it the Hermanos Avilés/Aviles Brothers orchestra; and the name stuck. In fact, most of the orchestra members belonged to the Aviles family.... more >>

In 2001, on my first trip abroad, to a Latin American country, I was shocked to see a little girl on the streets, around five years of age, begging for money to buy food. It was during the winter, and the little girl had no warm cloths either.... more >>

The oldest bridge in Cuba is the one over the Yayabo river, which is the largest tributary of the Zaza river. Both rivers seem to embrace the monumental and legendary city of Sancti Spiritus (Holy Spirit) in central Cuba –the only name of a Cuban municipality, capital city and province that is written in Latin.... more >>

The cave, also called the freedom cave, was used as a shelter by persecuted Indians, runaway slaves and the mambises –name given to the men and women who fought during the wars of independence from Spain in the late 1880s.... more >>

The fact that cows have remain a sacred animal in India, despite the Mongol and British Empires, the 64 years of the Republic and modern life, amazes everyone. Cows are still loved and respected throughout villages and cities.... more >>

Nowadays no one is taken by surprise when seeing a girl or a respectable lady wearing a comfortable pair of jeans, also called pitusas in Cuba. Women wear them to go on a walk or to go to work. A commonplace today, but it was quite a sensation when they were first introduced in Europe.... more >>